PERFECT POSITION—Sam Saltman sets a ball for the Oak Park High boys’ volleyball team. JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers One team is looking to repeat, while the other is searching for an elusive section title.

The boys’ volleyball squads from Westlake and Oak Park high schools will play for CIFSouthern Section banners Saturday afternoon at Cypress College.

Marmonte League champion Westlake (27-3) sets out to defend its Division 2 crown against Laguna Beach, a firstplace finisher from the Orange Coast League.

The Westlake-Laguna Beach matchup begins at 4:30 p.m.

Tri-Valley League powerhouse Oak Park (29-4) is making its third consecutive section title match appearance and fourth in the past five seasons. Still, the Eagles have failed to claim a CIF-SS championship ring during that span.

Standing in Oak Park’s path to glory in the Division 3 bracket is nationally ranked Norco, which has won 33 of 36 matches this season and features one of the nation’s premier players in senior outside hitter Taylor Sander.

“They’re touting (Sander) to be the best beach volleyball player that ever lived, better than Karch Kiraly,” Eagle head coach Patrick Quinn said. “He’s the complete package.”

Oak Park lost to Norco in last year’s final. Saturday’s Division 3 championship is set for 2 p.m.

“The bottom line is that no matter how good our opponent is, they’re still high school boys,” Quinn said. “On any given day, things can happen. We’re going to try to win one point at a time. All you can do is play hard.

“Sure, we’re playing a really, really strong team that is much bigger than us and probably better than us. But the best team doesn’t always win. I had the best team in 2008 and we didn’t win.”

Oak Park is led by outside hitter Christien McManus, middle blocker Michael Shea, libero Bradley Sakaida, outside hitter Justin Parks and setter/opposite Sam Saltman.

Westlake survived a pressure cooker during Tuesday’s semifinal round at Claremont.

Down two games to one, the Warriors were poised to win Game 4 with a commanding 24- 20 lead. Claremont battled back, however, and took a 25-24 advantage.

With their season hanging by a thread, the Warriors, according to head coach Doug Magorien, fought off at least three match points before claiming the fourth game, 33-31.

“It wasn’t just our best players, but the other guys really stepped up late in that game,” Magorien said. “They helped put us over the top.”

The Warriors, who’ve made a prolonged playoff run without three suspended starters, prevailed in Game 5, 15-11.

Outside hitter Keats Stanley, setter Travis Magorien, outside hitter Jacob Delson, middle blocker Dimitri Gorenc and opposite Colby Magorien have done an outstanding job throughout the postseason, the coach said.

“To win again would be so special for all the guys out there,” Magorien said. “They’ve worked so hard, and we’ve gone through so many different trials and tribulations.

“If we didn’t have such good depth, we would’ve been done two weeks ago.”